Once More with Glee
by William Easley
Summary: He wanted to rule the world. Now he just wants to get an A in his summer-school English class, which is taught by the ravishing Miss Ordmore. . . .


**Once More with Glee**

 **(June 27, 2014)**

My Definition of Love

By Gideon Gleeful

Miss Ordmore's Summer English Class, Last Assignment

June 27, 2014

Love can be many things. For some, it might be the persuit of power and riches. For others, it might be dedication to a career or a cause. I have known love to flower in strange places. Prisoners can find love in their hearts for their fellow man. Ordinary people can find it for people not behind bars. My definition of love is "something that matters more to a person than anything else in the world." It is a force, not a thing. It draws us along like a magnet draws iron. It changes us and makes us better people. I feel that, though I am young (12 yrs 11 months), I can illustrate what love means to me.

First, love is not just infactuation. It is more than a feeling that you want to have another person and keep that person with you always. It has to be. Love begins when one meets another person and feels an attraction. For the lucky ones, the attraction is mutual. Both parties feel it and they are drawn together. But to many times, love is just on one side. One person falls deeply in love with another one and wants to marry her (or him). But the other person does not feel the same. How can a person in love make someone else love him?

Well, it is impossible. Nobody can force another person to love them. The best one can do is to strive to be someone worthy of loving. In other words, the person in love must strive to behave so the other person will understand their feelings and will see that they are not being selfish. Selfishness kills love. I know, because once I was a very selfish person. I am trying to be better than that now. Once I had dreams of running the whole world one day. Now I just want to run my life so I will make a difference in other people's lives.

Let me give an example. When I was younger, I thought I was in love with a girl. Let's call her Belma. Belma was a bright, funny, happy girl. I was a frustrated and angry boy. I tried what I thought were all the romantic ways to make Belma feel for me what I thought I felt for her. I took her out to fine restaurants and on moonlight boat rides. But really, I know now, I just wanted Belma because her folks had property that I coveted. That word is from the Bible, and it means a sin. It means wanting what others have without deserving it.

Lucky for me, as it turned out, Belma's brother Pidder saw through my motives better even than I could. He tried to explain to me, but I was stubborn and hot-tempered. I was mad and angry and I did some things that now I know were terrible and just plain wrong. You remember Never Mind All That? I actually had a hand in starting it, although I did not know what I was doing, really. I regret that. But one thing I did, I became the jailor of Belma when she was captured. Now, I had been sent to jail myself for what I had done to Gravity Falls people. Think about the irony. I, the prisoner, had become the warden. That made me think twice. I faced up to it in the end. I said to myself, "Gideon, you have to try to be worthy of being loved." And I turned against the creature that was behind Never Mind All That, and I led some brave men to stand up against him.

He was too strong for us, but I do not regret for one minute doing what I did. My followers and I were captured. But then Belma felt sorry for me, and she and Pidder came and set us all free again. When it was over, as if I had been cleansed of corruption, I realized that what I had felt for Belma was not true love, just covetousness. I let it go.

Today she and her brother and I are good friends. I feel as if a great weight has been lifted from my heart. Now I am trying hard to be a better person. I am even going to summer school to bring up my grade in English, not because I have to, but because I want to. I had a grade of B- in English for the year. That is a fine grade, and I could live with it.

But I know I can do better. One day I hope to be a responsible citizen of Gravity Falls. I may want to be Mayor or a banker or a businessman. But I no longer want that to glorify myself, but to find a place where I can help other people. To me, that is love.

And as for the romantic side, I dream of one day being worthy of being loved, preferably by a smart, pretty, older woman. I don't mean a real old woman, either, but someone wiser and caring and loving who can correct me when I go wrong and help me find my path. Someone maybe 11 years older than I am (I am soon to be 13 yrs old). For I feel that I can offer much to such a woman, and I know she can offer much to me as my guide, as my inspiration, and as my Muse.

Love is wonderful when it can make people change for the better. I hope that love can do that one day for me, Gideon Gleeful. And if I should happen to find such a lovely, desirable, woman, I can guarantee that my dad will give her fifty per cent off the list price of any used car on his lot.

(Assignment was for at least 750 words. This is 975. Thank you, Miss Ordmore!)

* * *

Gideon,

This is much better. You are doing well at expressing yourself. It is not yet an A paper, but it is a high B. If you will revise it for me, I'm sure you will be happy with your English grade for summer school.

I have marked a few words that you need to look up. You have misspelled them. If you have trouble finding the correct spelling, come and see me. We'll sit side by side with the dictionary like last time, and I will guide you through.

Your introduction is a little too long. You take too much time to get to the heart of the essay, which is your personal experience. Let's get together and I will give you some suggestions on how you could tighten the language and get to the real meat of the essay sooner.

Gideon, I live in Gravity Falls, and I remember Never Mind About All That very clearly, because it was the year I'd just graduated with my teaching certification, and the whole thing was a huge shock for a twenty-one-year-old innocent girl. Now that we can look back calmly, I would suggest that you go into more detail about your experiences during all that. I will not judge you. You won't shock me. I am truly interested in what you did and what happened to you. I also recall that little episode when you bugged practically everyone in town with electronic transmitters in the form of buttons and had to be put in "Time Out" for grown-ups to think about it. Why not put a paragraph about that in? If you found anything juicy about citizens that you planned to use, explain it. Again, I will not be shocked. I have taught middle school for two whole years now, and I feel I have seen it all.

For instance, let's take at random someone, oh, say the principal of our school. Did you dig up any fascinating information on him? I would love to read about it, and it will be our secret. No one else ever sees my students' papers.

What were your weeks in prison like? I know you had great charisma and led many of the inmates in rebelling against Bill Cipher. I would be thrilled to read more details about that and the strong, forceful men who looked to you to lead them.

Again, please make an appointment. We can meet either in the classroom after school, or if that's a time problem for you, we could meet at my home. In fact, if you'd like to come to dinner, we could discuss all this at the table. You are a very promising student, and I see a lot of potential in you and want to help you.

Now, on the bright side, you are using some figurative language well. I am VERY impressed with the maturity of thought—your words about striving to be worthy of being loved and of a prisoner becoming the warden (and you used "irony" correctly"! Extra points!) were both thought-provoking and wise beyond your years. I am proud of all the work you are doing. Your grade is a B+. Let's put our heads together and get that up to an A!

Your teacher,

Cynara Ordmore

PS- By the way—does the fifty per cent discount apply to late-model cars, or just the ones five years old and older?


End file.
